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It was announced prior to the start of the 2007 Formula One season that Lewis Hamilton would be partnering defending double World Champion Fernando Alonso who had joined McLaren after leaving Renault. He finished third on his debut at the Australian Grand Prix and became the thirteenth driver to finish on the podium in his first Formula One career race excluding those in the first ever World Championship round. In Bahrain and Barcelona, Hamilton finished second behind Felipe Massa to take the lead in the drivers championship. This meant that Hamilton broke Bruce McLaren's record of being the youngest driver to ever lead the world championship. Hamilton finished second behind Alonso at Monaco and afterwards he suggested that he was prevented from racing Alonso with the FIA clearing McLaren following an investigation and Hamilton having both his first pole position and first victory of his Formula One career in the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. A week later Hamilton won the United States Grand Prix, becoming the first Briton since John Watson in 1983 to win a Formula One race in the USA and only the second person to win more than one race in his rookie Formula One racing season since the first year of the Championship. By finishing third in France, Hamilton extended his lead in the Driver's Championship to 14 points. In Hamilton's first home Grand Prix at Silverstone he finished third. This podium finish meant that he equalled Jim Clark's 1963 record of 9 consecutive podium finishes. During qualifying for the European Grand Prix Hamilton crashed at the Schumacher chicane because of a problem with the wheel nut that caused by the wheel gun used on his car. He was taken to the Nürburgring's medical centre on a stretcher with an oxygen mask and drip but was conscious throughout. He was unable to complete qualifying and his existing laptime was surpassed by all other competitors during Q3. Thus, he qualified in 10th position. Hamilton was cleared to race after a final medical check on Sunday. During a heavy rainstorm which caused the race to be red-flagged Hamilton slid off into a gravel trap, however as he kept his engine running he was lifted back on to the circuit and able to rejoin the race after the restart. His 9th-place finish in this race was his first non-podium and non-points finish. Controversially, Hamilton became the first and only driver to have his car recovered by a crane and put back on the track during a race. This led some to the conclusion that Hamilton was getting preferential treatment by the FIA as all other drivers who went off into the gravel were not craned back onto the track with the FIA subsequently banning the use of mechanical assistance to move a car back on track. Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix from pole position following a controversial qualifying session. Alonso had set the fastest time but was relegated five places for preventing Hamilton from leaving the pit lane in time to complete his final qualifying lap. Hamilton declared that he had restored his relationship with Alonso. At the Turkish Grand Prix, Hamilton suffered a puncture which saw him finish in fifth place. Alonso beat Hamilton in the Italian and Belgian Grand Prix and left Hamilton with a two-point lead in the title race. He extended his lead to 12 points after winning the Japanese Grand Prix in heavy rain after Alonso crashed. Following the race, Hamilton was investigated by the race stewards over his involvement in an incident behind the safety car, seeing both Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber crash out of the race while following him. The trio were cleared on the Friday of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend. At the Chinese Grand Prix Hamilton started from pole but failed to finish after the McLaren team left him out for too long on worn tyres, and he slid into a gravel trap as he came into the pit lane. In the Brazilian Grand Prix Hamilton finished in seventh place and Räikkönen won which meant that Hamilton came second in the championship by 1 point. On the first lap, Hamilton was passed by several cars and dropped to eighth place. Hamilton could not select a gear and ended up coasting for 40 seconds. At the first hearing of the Formula One espionage controversy McLaren management consistently denied all knowledge by blaming a single rogue engineer. In the final hearing, McLaren were found guilty and the team were excluded from the constructors' championship. The following year Hamilton won the Australian Grand Prix having qualified on pole position. In Malaysia, he finished fifth after he had started from ninth on the grid because of a penalty for impeding Nick Heidfeld's qualifying lap. He was back on the podium in Spain finishing third. Hamilton finished second in Turkey and won the Monaco Grand Prix. Hamilton crashed into the back of Räikkönen during the Canadian Grand Prix because of him failing to see that the Finn was waiting at a red light at the end of the pit-lane as the whole field went past under the guide of the safety car. Both cars were forced to retire and Hamilton was given a 10 position grid penalty for the French Grand Prix. Despite an error in qualifying that saw him start fourth on the grid, Hamilton went on to win the British Grand Prix in wet conditions. His performance was stated as being one of his best drives to date. Hamilton said in the post race press conference that it was his most difficult and most meaningful win. In the next race at Hockenheim in Germany, Hamilton won the race despite a tactical blunder. Hamilton won the Belgian Grand Prix but was later judged to have gained an unfair advantage by cutting a chicane when he used a tarmac run off area to avoid hitting Räikkönen. McLaren said that their telemetry showed Hamilton backed off to let Räikkönen past but Hamilton was given a 25-second penalty which thereby dropped him to third. As a result, Massa inherited the win. Hamilton's lead in the Drivers' Championship was cut to two points and a subsequent appeal to the FIA World Motor Sport Council was rejected. At the Brazilian Grand Prix Hamilton needed to finish in fifth position if Massa won the race. Hamilton became the youngest Formula One Champion as he snatched the championship on the very last corner. Just before the race began, a rain shower hit and Hamilton ran in fourth place before dropping down to sixth to put on dry weather tyres. Hamilton passed the Force India driver Giancarlo Fisichella and overtook the three stopping Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton held Vettel off and after they pitted for wet weather tyres because of another shower he was fifth. But with two laps to go, Vettel overtook Hamilton and the Brit could not get back past, but on the final lap he and Vettel made up an eighteen-second gap on Timo Glock who had stayed out on dry tyres and Hamilton overtook him for fifth place and the championship by one point in the very last corner as Massa won the race. This meant that Hamilton had clinched the 2008 Formula One World Championship, becoming the youngest driver to win the title as well as the first black driver. Hamilton is also the first British driver to win the World Championship since Damon Hill triumphed in 1996. Hamilton started the 2009 Australian Grand Prix from 18th place on the grid because of the McLaren team incurring a penalty for changing his gearbox. Hamilton benefited from a late crash between Vettel and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica to move into fourth place by the end of the race. He was then promoted to third because of the Toyota driver Jarno Trulli being penalised for overtaking him under safety car conditions. During a post-race stewards' hearing, Hamilton and McLaren officials told stewards that they had not purposely let Trulli pass but it was revealed that this was not true. Hamilton was disqualified from the race for providing misleading evidence. He later apologised to Charlie Whiting for having lied to the stewards. He went on to describe the incident as the hardest week of his life and considered quitting Formula One racing. Hamilton's fortunes were reversed at the Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring where he won the race 11.529 seconds clear of Räikkönen to take his 10th career win and the first for a KERS-equipped car. McLaren's return to form continued in Valencia where Hamilton finished second. In the Singapore Grand Prix, Hamilton took his second win of the year. In the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Hamilton retired on lap 20 because of a rear brake problem which was his first technical-related retirement in Formula One racing. 3 years later Hamilton qualified on pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix but had to stop the car on track in order for a reputable fuel sample to be given post-qualifying. The stewards decided that he had breached qualifying rules introduced after a similar incident at the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix. Race stewards excluded him from the qualifying results and demoted him to the back of the grid. Hamilton enjoyed a continuation of Mercedes' dominance heading into the 2015 season as the new W06 Hybrid completed more laps in pre-season, and did so using just one power unit. At the opening race in Australia, Hamilton qualified in pole position quicker than team-mate Nico Rosberg and 1.391 seconds clear of Massa's Williams in third. Hamilton then won the race ahead of Rosberg in second with Vettel's Ferrari in third. Ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, Mercedes announced that they had extended the contract with Hamilton for three additional years which keeps him at the squad until the end of 2018. This followed months of widely publicised contract talks between the driver who chose to negotiate on his own behalf, and the team. The deal is reportedly worth more than £100m over the full three years, making Hamilton one of the best paid drivers in Formula One racing. It was also reported that the extension contract granted Hamilton the right to maintain his own image rights which is considered unusual in the sport, and keep his championship winning cars as well as the trophies. Hamilton went on to win the British Grand Prix for the second time in a row and third overall, also surpassing Jackie Stewart's 45-year old record of laps led. Hamilton won the next two races at Spa and Monza and extended his championship lead over Rosberg, who was forced to retire in the latter because of engine failure. At the 2016 Australian Grand Prix Hamilton qualified on pole however he made a poor start to the race before recovering to finish second behind Rosberg. In the next race in Spain, Hamilton qualified on pole. On the opening lap a collision between Hamilton and Rosberg meant that both Mercedes cars retired instantly with the stewards deciding that the collision was a racing incident. Hamilton began to close the gap by winning in Monaco and Canada ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Vettel respectively, however a crash in qualifying at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and an engine mode setting problem meant that he was only able to finish 5th. Hamilton's season unravelled after the summer break. He finished 3rd in Belgium despite having started from 21st on the grid. He lost the win to Rosberg in Italy after a poor start from pole position. 3rd place behind Rosberg and Ricciardo in the Singapore Grand Prix meant that he lost the championship lead to Rosberg once again. He looked set to regain the lead after dominating the Malaysian Grand Prix, but his engine blew up midway. Another poor start in Japan led to him finishing in 3rd behind Rosberg and Max Verstappen, meaning that his deficit to Rosberg was now 33 points and that the Championship was no longer in his hands. Hamilton returned to winning form in the USA and Mexico by leading Rosberg home. In Brazil, he dominated a heavily wet race, but with Rosberg finishing second it meant that he would have to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and hope that Rosberg finished 4th or lower to win the Formula One championship. Hamilton took pole position ahead of Rosberg and led him for most of the race. In order to give himself a final shot at winning the title, Hamilton started to back Rosberg up into the path of Vettel and Verstappen near the end of the race, ignoring team orders to speed up and hoping that both Vettel and Verstappen would overtake Rosberg to give Hamilton the world championship. Rosberg was able to fend them off and take second place to win the title with 385 points to Hamilton's 380 Category:Hounslow